Monthly Archives: June 2015

The 2005 Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness and the following 2008 Accra Agenda for Action emphasized the importance of inclusive partnerships, which require full participation of all partners, including donors in the OECD/DAC and developing countries, as well as other donors, foundations and civil society. In this vein, while diverse Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are

The importance of volunteers is evident in their ability to serve as essential components in International Development. In view of this, volunteers tend to be underestimated, if not undermined. Richard Dictus, Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) remarked that we should place volunteerism as a key asset at all three levels

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius will travel to Vienna on Saturday to join talks with five other major powers. The talks are aimed at sealing a final deal on Iran’s nuclear program. As Fabius said, “any nuclear deal with Iran must be able to be verified.” He stated that the international community must be extremely

Climate change poses a threat to the lives of global citizens in a variety of forms, from immediate disasters, taking the lives of thousands of people, to environmental problems that have long term effects. It is easier to study, estimate, prepare, and prevent environmental problems that cause long term effects than to do so

Africa in 2015 has begun paving the long and winding road towards what could be peace and prosperity by 2063. The continents modern history is riddled with stories of corruption, absolute poverty (those living below USD$1.35 a day), which according to the World Bank, accounts for 48.5 percent of the population, and is rocked by political

Transgender rights have always been on the outskirts of policy and decision making. This is not only because getting an accurate population count is difficult, but because they make up around 0.3% of the population. For decades this minority has been subject to discrimination & violence as many LGBT movements and their leaders are generally targets of

South Africa has recently invested billions in a multi-billion dollar Rand project introduced by the South African government that aims to provide South Africans with basic access to sanitation services. The month of May, had been declared Sanitation and Hygiene Month by the South African Department of Water and Sanitation, with the theme entitled

Hundreds of thousands of migrant workers are facing deportation from the Dominican Republic back to Haiti. This marks the latest in a series of actions by the Dominican government against their Haitian neighbor, showing their long-troubled relationship. Undocumented workers had until Wednesday to register their presence in the country, in order to potentially be allowed

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) means “all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons,” following the definition from WHO. Statistically, around 130 million girls and women have experienced FGM in the 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East region

The International Monetary Fund pulled out of talks with debt-stricken Greece on Thursday after it accused Athens of failing to compromise over labor market and pension reforms. The IMF says it is returning to Washington due to a lack of progress in narrowing differences with Athens. Both teams of negotiators reached a stalemate in Brussels

Advancing Africa`s competitiveness along agriculture, service industries and value-chain continuums reveals that these are key drivers in translating African economies from inefficient labour markets marred by a lack of competitiveness, into globally competitive powerhouses. Insufficient institutions, infrastructure, health and education are stunting Africa`s potential for competitiveness not just within the region, but also in

June 12th marks the 14th year that the International Labor Organization (ILO) will support the World Day Against Child Labor. The ILO World Day promotes the focus of attention on the extent of child labor on a global scale and what actions need to be taken to reduce and eventually eliminate the practice of child

This year, 2015, will mark a milestone for international development as a new set of development goals is expected to be developed, agreed upon, and announced. The target year of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was 2015, therefore new development goals – the Sustainable Development Goals, including the goals that have failed to meet

The Paris Climate Change Conference aims to unite 190 countries in order to discuss new global agreements on reducing global greenhouse emissions and climate change. Current commitments on greenhouse gas emissions expire in 2020 and there is a perceived need to collectively produce fresh agreements on what happens for the next decade, or even

Honey producers in Zambia may have much to learn from the recent partnership between the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the Zambian Development Agency (ZDA), which strives to build the capacity of local Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) owners in the sector of food management. Traditionally, beekeeping and honey production has been

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the richest in the world at USD $900 billion and claiming about 1 percent of the world’s stocks and bonds, dropped over 50 coal companies in 2014 due to the threat of climate regulations. These include companies such as mining firms and utilities that have at least 30 percent of their

While aid effectiveness has become a critical subject in the development field, the problem of aid fragmentation is also being discussed as one of the reasons aggravating aid effectiveness. According to concerns against aid fragmentation, development assistance coming from diverse sources will add bureaucratic or unnecessary work to the beneficiaries’ side, therefore it can take